Recent Shots

Three recent photos.

One: My neighbor had her son's name tattooed on her back in Hebrew. This picture was taken in her living room with side light coming in a window. I think I was holding Grace and her son was tugging on my pant leg.

Two: I'm involved with a local nonprofit. They wanted a picture of their kids holding a "Thank You" sign to send out to major donors. To get genuine smiles out of these two, I had them say "poo poo pee pee" over and over.

And the best shot last: Grace and her cousin, Lilianna, opening a gift on Christmas morning. So sweet. So innocent.

Grace - 10 Months Old

Grace will be 10 months old on the 26th, so I am putting this post up early because I know that if I try to do it the day after Christmas, it'll never happen!

It is impossible to put this sweet, snuggly, curious, gentle creature into words, but I will do my best.

8 months old

Grace hard at play. I love me some chubby baby thighs!

Most exciting development first: Grace has started talking! Her first word was "bubble." Grace started linking concepts to words a little when she was seven and eight months old, but she wasn't very consistent. My favorite moments during this stretch were when she mixed up the syllables in "Daddy" and called Michael "dee-dee-dah." Then, one day during Grace's evening bath, I showed her how to blow bubbles into a cup of water. She blew bubbles herself and said, "buh-buh." Over the next few days, she said "buh-buh" and "buh-bow" every time we blew bubbles. That's when we were convinced that she was talking.

Now, I listen closely to her all day to try to pick out words from that English-like babbling she does. So far, the only other consistent word besides bubble is up ("pupupup") -- a very fitting second word since she wants to be held all the time.

Toward the end of November, she started to say "Oh, wow!" I had a hunch that she didn't know what it meant. Sure enough, she gave out a hearty "WOOOW!" during our pastor's benediction one Sunday. Nothing wrong with our pastor and his benedictions, they just aren't something that has the wow factor for a baby.

Grace's most interesting nap position ever.
After we took the picture, we unfolded her so we could feel like competent parents.

When she was eight months old, she was hit with a whole new level of separation anxiety and fear. For a couple of nights, she woke up scared and screaming, wondering where "mama" and "dee-da" were. We employed the good old "cry it out" method and she began to sleep well again. The silver lining of all the separation anxiety is how much she likes to snuggle into me. I savor those sweet moments.

9 months old

When Grace was nine months old, she learned to crawl. She's now quite mobile, but because of her slow-paced, observant nature, we haven't had to baby proof much because she isn't motivated to get into everything (yet).

What are some of Grace's favorite things at this point?

• Chewing on an orange slice and and trying to eat the box that the "Pat the Bunny" book came in. She throws a mini temper tantrum if I take either away.
• When we blow our noses, breathe loudly through our noses at her, or snort at her.
• Books. Especially "Are You My Mother?," "Hop on Pop," and "Oh the Thinks You Can Think." We read at least ten books a day! The first command she followed was "turn the page."
• Music. Grace "sings" along in church, she likes it when "dee-dee-dada" plays the guitar, and she stands at the piano stretching as tall as she can to play the keys. She hits our djembe, blows into my penny whistle, and shakes our egg shakers.
• A lot of kids have a comfort object like a blanket or toy at this age that helps them transition to being apart from parents. The only thing that comes close to being a comfort object for her is a song called "Cello from Portland" by a folksy rap group. The song has taken her from crying to asleep a few times.
• Rockets. To entertain Grace, Michael flies some candles we own around the house like rockets. She makes the rocket sound along with him and sometimes even flies her hand or her vitamin D bottle like rockets.
• Food. I cannot believe how much this tiny child eats. She's in the 50th percentile for weight and the 60th percentile for height, but she eats as if she's shooting to be Jabba the Hutt. For instance, last Saturday I bought a half gallon of yogurt just for Grace to eat for breakfast and her pre-bedtime snack. It was gone in five days.

Happiness Is

A twenty pound turkey transformed into turkey soup, turkey enchiladas, and turkey ka-prao. And a twenty pound baby to help us eat it all.

The anticipation of baby's first Christmas.

The anticipation of my first Christmas with a baby.

Weather chilly enough to light the gas fireplace every night.

Pulling out the good ol' crooked Christmas tree and leaving the bottom three feet bare to keep our tiny human from eating ornaments and hooks.

Reading the lyrics of Christmas songs out of an old, green hymnal and reveling in the forgotten third and fourth verses.

A full home. Michael, Jen, Jen's boyfriend, my law partner, and our intern all work from our home at different points during the week. It's much better than Grace and me alone rattling around in a big house.

Reading Anne of Green Gables for the billionth time.

High Five

Last week was one of those weeks.

Last Sunday, Grace vomited a few times and had a fever. She seemed to be getting better on Monday.

On Monday night, I woke up a little before midnight and immediately knew the inevitable was coming. I spent a lot of that night moaning and hugging the toilet. Although Michael was almost as sick as me, he valiantly took care of Grace all the next day while I laid around. By Wednesday, we were mostly better.

On Monday, that little golden window when Grace was getting better and I hadn't gotten sick yet, I taught her how to give high fives. She took a few days to learn how to wave goodbye, but she mastered high fives in about five minutes! Here's the movie. Too bad it's sideways! I can't figure out how to flip videos taken with my phone.

Giving Thanks

Yesterday was filled with cooking and hosting and conversing, so today I write to give thanks for just a few of many good gifts including

Good music.

Good books.

Work that I enjoy and that allows me to be with my baby girl yet gives me something outside the home and meaningful to do to prevent me from going crazy.

A loving, faithful husband.

A happy, healthy baby who is developing so well. Specifically, I am grateful for each of her heartbeats from the first few we heard at the first ultrasound to the ones I recently felt under her tiny ribs as I laid her down to sleep.

Birdsong.

Variety in food. Cardamom, toasted almonds, pupusas, cumin, heirloom veggies, fresh baked bread, dim sum. I love food.

Mystery. Life would be so much blander if everything could be explained. Rather, there is so much that is inexplicable like giant, underground ant colonies; the beauty of fall trees; the migratory patterns of some species. It all so beautifully reflects the mystery of God himself -- although he has graciously revealed many of his attributes, in the end, he cannot be explained and his essence cannot be fully known.

Cars, the highway system, and passenger planes that get me quickly to those I love, and phone calls, Skype dates, Google hangouts, emails, Facebook messages & status updates, and blog posts for when I can't see them in person.

Happy Thanksgiving one day late!

More With Less: Part Two

A couple of weeks into my first semester of college, my roommate asked me if I had heard of a new thing called "Facebook." Within about ten minutes, she had opened my account. I had trouble finding many of my friends from high school in Colorado because Facebook was only at a dozen or so east and west coast universities at the time. My, how things change!

Now, nine years in, I am totally addicted.

I often find myself in the middle of a little life happening, and rather than enjoying whatever is going on, I try to figure out a clever status update. When I post something new, I wait with anticipation to see if anyone will comment and how many likes it will garner as if that will satisfy me. It doesn't. When someone takes a good picture of me, I immediately think, "profile picture!" During the first few weeks of Grace's life, I remember waking up at ungodly hours to breastfeed her and scrolling through my newsfeed to help keep me awake.

This summer, I got so sick of it all that I told myself, "Self, you may only go on Facebook twice a week!" I threw an inner temper tantrum, but stuck to my guns and discovered that 

• Not that much happens on Facebook anyway. Even after several days of being off, I'd only have about ten minutes of catching up to do.
• I felt happier. Perhaps this was because I was more present to my life rather than always looking at others' lives.
• I wrote more blog posts during that period than I did before I had a baby. Again, I was caring for a little baby and starting a law firm and, because I wasn't going on Facebook, I had enough time to write more than I ever had before! (I thought a lot about the concept of creating over ingesting when I read this short, inexpensive ebook.)

After several weeks of following my little rule, I decided I had enough self control to ditch it. I soon found myself well on my way to living and breathing Facebook again. So, I recently re-instituted a rule: I only go on Facebook on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and my friend, Ingrid, is holding me accountable.

I am committed to living a life where entertainment isn't my knee jerk reaction to quiet spaces in my day. For me, Facebook is my achilles' heel, but I've also trimmed down a couple of other areas over the past months and years. I read just one or two books at a time so that I can really soak them in. I rarely go on Pinterest, mostly using it as a tool for organizing interesting things so that it's not another website to browse through. I also don't watch TV unless there is a show that Michael and I are especially excited to follow. (Most recently: MasterChef Junior. So fun!)

I still enjoy reading, Facebooking, Pinteresting, etc., but I enjoy them so much more now that they are not central in my life.

~

I wrote a post last week about how much richer my life feels when I do fewer things, take in less information, and own less stuff. This is part two of that post.

More With Less

Over the past half year, I've rediscovered how much happier I am when I do fewer things, take in less information, and own less stuff. This realization has led me to make some concrete changes in my life. These include:

• Going on Facebook three days a week instead of multiple times per day.
• Slowly meditating on Scripture rather than blazing through.
• Unsubscribing from all those emails that I never read anyway.
• Reading just one or two books at once and taking my time to savor the words.
• Getting rid of lots of physical possessions.
• Rarely going on Pinterest.

My life already feels fuller and richer. I think I am just beginning to tap into the slow, conscious way that we are designed to live rather than the frenetic speed that our culture tells us we must maintain in order to be valuable.

In place of deleting emails or scrolling through status updates, I now have more time for this:

Does my everyday life of caring for a tiny human, keeping up a home, and running a start-up business start to drag sometimes? You bet. But, do you see the delight on my baby's face in those few moments of playing peekaboo? They would be so easy to miss if I filled that boredom with entertainment. It is so good to slow down and to live.

Thai Tea

A couple of years ago, after our attempts at making milk tea were successful, Michael and I decided to try to make homemade Thai tea. We scoured the internet in search of a recipe, but everyone said to just buy the mix. That's not what we wanted. We wanted to know exactly what ingredients to use to give black tea that orange color and that fragrant aroma.

In December 2011, we were visiting Michael's Thai aunt who lives about an hour outside of Bangkok. She spends her days cooking in her outdoor kitchen and tending fruits and vegetables grown all over her large property. Thailand has some of the best food in the world and the best food we had in Thailand came out of her kitchen. If anyone knew how to make Thai tea from scratch it would be her.

Via my mother-in-law's translation, we asked her, "How do you make Thai tea?" She answered, "You buy the mix." Oh, the disappointment! It was then that we realized that our question was the equivalent to approaching a Brit and asking how to make Earl Grey tea.

Our disappointment was eased when we found out that Thai tea "mix" is actually Thai tea leaves brewed properly and mixed with the right amount of sweetened condensed milk. Without further ado, here is how to make a large pitcher of Thai tea, restaurant style, at home.

Thai Tea (ชาเย็น, "cha-yen," literally: "cold tea")

1) Buy a bag or two of these Thai tea leaves and a can of sweetened condensed milk.

2) Brew 9 tablespoons of the tea leaves in 8 cups of boiling hot water. Let the leaves steep for a very long time to get the tea nice and strong.

3) Mix in 2/3 cup of sweetened condensed milk. Stir thoroughly as it tends to settle on the bottom.

4) Let it cool. Put it in the fridge for a few hours.

5) Drink!

Purple

Recently, I've been admiring these flowers that have popped up all over town this past month. Admire them with me!

Cadence's One-Year-Old Pictures

About a year ago, I found myself wishing for the olden days I've never known where neighbors and friends felt free to pop by without apology. Around the same time, on one of my daily walks, a neighbor saw my big belly, asked how far along I was, told me he had an infant son, and offered me the baby's outgrown clothes. 

Shortly thereafter, I met his wife, Lori. She's become that "pop by" neighbor and friend. We hang out, text, call, and pop by on a regular basis. When Grace wakes up at 1am screaming, cuts a tooth, or starts waving bye-bye and I'm just bursting to tell someone, Lori is my go-to mama. It is so fun to have a friend whose front door I can see from my kitchen window who is in first time mommy mode too. 

Her son, Cadence, recently turned one! For his birthday gift, I took his one year pictures. These pictures look deceptively composed and serene. In reality, we were running around our neighborhood rocking flipflops and mommy-tails - that permanent ponytail moms often have, passing Grace back and forth, and making Cadence laugh. Due to her easy going spirit and Cadence being super photogenic, we got some good shots!

Happy birthday, little guy! And happy I-survived-my-first-year-of-motherhood day, Lori!

Halloween

Last year, Grace was a pumpkin for Halloween.

This year, we decided to go along with her tongue always out, crazy hair look. Did we pull it off?

Grace - Eight Months Old

The last two months in three words: Cuter. Happier. Chunkier.

The last two months in a lot more words:

Six months old

When Grace was six months old, she mastered sitting, began to pull to standing, began to say "mama" and "dada" (as opposed to "mamamama" and "dadadada," but without knowing what they mean). She displayed some major stranger anxiety for a couple of weeks, though being around students, coworkers, neighbors, and family all the time has really helped curb that anxiety.

When she was six months old, her favorite things included chilling in the stroller while I went on a walk or a run, playing with Auntie Jen (our housemate who she absolutely adores), tickling sessions, gumming on broccoli stems, and taking her vitamin D drops. Seriously, when I give her vitamin D, she kicks, smiles, and even giggles. When she doesn't feel like laying still for a diaper change, all I have to do is hand her her vitamin D bottle and she begins to gurgle and coo like a content two month old. You can't make this stuff up.

At six months old, Grace also detested being on the ground. She spent the day in my arms, being spotted while standing, or in her high chair.

Seven months old

When she was seven months old, Grace learned to wave goodbye, her first two teeth appeared, she caught her first cold at her cousin's first birthday party, and she sprouted just enough hair to make the tiniest, dorkiest ponytail. She has also begun to scoot on her belly to get to objects out of reach, though she rarely does it and she gets incredibly frustrated in the process. She really hates anything physical, except standing. She could spend the whole day standing. Today, she even started cruising a little. I keep wondering if she's going to bypass crawling and go straight to walking.

On Saturday, we had our first official parenting scare when, after some prolonged fussiness, Grace's entire breakfast came up out of her mouth along with a penny. My mom who is a pediatric nurse practitioner told me all that could have happened to her had the penny made it to her stomach or if she had breathed the penny rather than swallowed it. That night, Michael and I thanked God for taking care of our little human piggy bank.

What are Grace's current favorite things? She has a magnetic attraction toward anything that children aren't supposed to play with including flames, plastic bags, and strings (see the picture above of her playing with her favorite toy - a balloon, especially the string). She also enjoys being read to, eating pears and applesauce, eating in general, standing, and drooling. She loves going to the grocery store to observe the endless interesting objects. She still is a total nature girl and she loves anything water related including playing in the tub, drinking from a cup, watching water run out of the tap, etc.

Grace's typical day involves three meals, five nursing sessions, and two naps of a little over an hour each. She goes to sleep at 7:30ish, wakes up at 6:30ish to nurse, and turns back in for another hour or two.

It is an incredible joy to be Grace's parent. We love her dearly.

California's Fall Colors

Hats off to the thorny, rebellious tree up the street who, just when leaves should be dying and falling, puts out a shockingly pink display that screams, "It's spring!"

Each individual flower is enough to make me stop and admire.

These show stopping flowers fill each thorny branch.

All adding up to the most spectacular autumn display.

Fun Moments with the Baby

Being a parent is a ton of work and a ton of joy. Here are two moments of laughter.

Eating solids often gets Grace's bowels moving. Her utter concentration and shamelessness while pooping always makes me laugh. Here's her poop face. No dignity!

  

Michael often gets Grace rolling with laughter. Here's a video of her delight in seeing him disappear and reappear over and over.

Why I Blog

This month marks the completion of my third year of blogging!

Three years ago, the thought of starting a blog entered my mind. A few days later, I came up with the title, Scattered Snippets. My first post (of now almost 200 posts!) has become the bane of my blog's existence. It's gotten more hits than any other post from people finding it via Google searches of the phrase "heirloom pumpkin carving."

I began blogging to keep a record of happenings in my life primarily for the close friends and family who were scattered across the world. After blogging for three years, I've realized that I do it for so much more than that. Here's why I blog.

I love the creative challenge of taking an experience and transferring the attendant concepts, thoughts, and feelings into words. Like the incredible nausea and joy of my first trimester. Or the story of how we got our crooked Christmas tree.

I love trying to capture the essence of the subject in a photo, or a few photos, and placing them in just the right spot alongside the words. Like the challenge of making applesauce look tasty. 

I love looking back on the memories that I've chronicled that I would otherwise forget. Like what Grace was like at two months old. Or all the ways God guided me after law school. Or our first gardening attempts.

I love knowing that people read it. I love knowing that certain people, especially my grandparents, get to see a little bit of my life. And it's satisfying to know that my little "scattered snippets" occasionally provoke thought or action in someone else, even if it's just a few people trying out my mom's enchilada recipe.

On Starting a Law Firm

Out where I live in the desert cities east of Los Angeles, there's a lot of poverty, but very few businesses or nonprofits offering affordable legal services in underserved communities.

During summer 2012, I found myself praying that God would inspire someone to open a law firm dedicated to providing low cost legal services in local communities and that I would get a job at this law firm. Can you imagine my shock and trepidation when I discovered that that someone was me?!

Now if you read "law firm" and think mahogany furniture, designer suits, and BMWs, you've got it all wrong. Think more along the lines of a start-up, small business, community organizing, work meetings in my living room, and "Let's take a ten minute break. I need to nurse my seven month old." That's this law firm.

Here's a timeline of how it all went down.

May 2012. I didn't get the post-graduate fellowship that everyone told me I would definitely get, so I joined the masses of jobless recent law school graduates.

Summer 2012: I began tutoring kids at a summer enrichment program hosted by a wonderful local nonprofit dedicated to community transformation.

Fall 2012: I landed a part time, temp job advocating for undocumented immigrants who were victims of crime and undocumented youth who arrived in the US as children.

The programs director at the nonprofit found out I was doing immigration law and practically begged, "If there's any way you could do any immigration advocacy for our families..." I said, "It's too complicated, and I don't know enough yet." Around the same time, my supervisor at work said, "Why don't you open your own immigration practice out where you live?" I thought she was crazy.

But, then I couldn't get the thought out of my head. I talked to a few people about it. The idea grew and grew.

December 2012: I started pursuing opening a law firm.

July 2013: I invited my friend, Sarah, to join as a partner.

September 2013: We opened the doors of our immigration law office! My partner has had some asylum work, we have two upcoming information sessions on DACA, and we hope to be bringing in lots of clients soon!

When I make a major life decision, I try to submit it to God's guidance via community, prayer, and Scripture. But, most of the time, there is no clear guidance and I end up making the best decision I can trusting that God's grace is sufficient to cover for any mistakes.

This time around, the guidance has been crystal clear. I feel so strongly, in a way I've never really felt before, that starting this law firm is exactly what God wants me to do. I have received tons of encouragement and support. All my needs have been beyond provided for. Every obstacle I've encountered that's made me want to throw in the towel and shout, "What was I thinking?!" has been cleared without all that much effort. It's as if, all along, God has had this law practice in mind and he's just taking me down his pre-planned path. It is such an adventure to follow the one who is over all and in control of all!

Homemade Applesauce

It feels like fall has come early this year. This past week, I've woken up to chilly mornings with overcast skies. By noon, the gloom burns off, and the sun shines cheerily, warming my corner of the world up to a balmy 80 degrees.

I can hear you non-Angelenos snickering, "That's what you call fall?!" Yes, this is what we call fall. Through October, temperatures normally soar into the upper 90's and even crack into the 100's. 80 degrees is fall. When the temperature plummets into the 60's, our boots and sweaters come out. And when our swaying palm trees are regularly sprinkled with rain and our mountains are lightly dusted with snow, it feels like Christmas.

So, as I was saying, it feels like fall has come early this year. And with fall come hoards of inexpensive, delicious apples! Growing up, my mom made applesauce. I got the instructions from her yesterday, bought the ingredients today (aka just a lot of good apples), and made applesauce this afternoon. It was super simple, super inexpensive, and came out super delicious. And it makes good baby food.

Homemade Applesauce

Ingredients:

• 14 Fuji apples (or any other yummy, inexpensive apple)
• 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine

Directions:

• Cut the apples into eighths getting rid of the stems, cores, and stickers as you go.
• Put about a half inch of water in the bottom of a pressure cooker. Put your chopped apples on top of that. Put your butter on top of that.
• Seal the pressure cooker and put it over high heat until it comes up to pressure. Let it cook for a minute. Let off the pressure and pierce an apple to see if it's soft all the way through. If not, bring it up to pressure again and cook it for another minute.
• Use a soup wand, blender, or food processor to turn your mushy apples into applesauce. You can leave it a bit chunky. That's how I like it. Or you can make it smooth. That's how my baby likes it.

Notice that there's no sugar in this recipe. If your apples aren't very sweet, add sugar. If they aren't very tart, add lemon juice. Or just start with really yummy apples. :)

Happiness is a Warm Puppy

My take on the Charles M. Schulz's book, "Happiness is a Warm Puppy."


Happiness is...

June gloom in September. 

A half caff espresso with sweetened condensed milk.

A stroller rolling through crunchy leaves.

Malabar spinach winding its way up a netted trellis.

A kid who eats her spinach and broccoli. (For now.)

A babysitter, a real date, and a fig marmalade burger.

Getting Bigger

Two Thoughts on Parenting

Thought number one.

It's at times like this...

...that I marvel at the fact that the human species is still around. Every single person who has ever lived has needed bottle/breastfeeding day and night, poop cleanups, bathing, help with keeping themselves entertained, and enormous amounts of holding and comforting while teething, scared, bored, or around strangers. I can hardly believe that's how we've been sustained person after person, generation after generation. It's a wonder we're still around.

Thought number two.

To a baby, everything is fresh and exciting, including the sight of morning sprinklers launching water in all directions across a field. I love taking the time to see the world through my baby's eyes. It brings out the beauty and intrigue in all that I've gotten used to.

Seven Things I Learned in August

1. I love short hair. It's me. 

I enjoy change and variety, so for over ten years, I've repeatedly gone through the cycle of growing my hair long only to chop it all off. My hair had gotten super long over the past year. I chopped it into a long bob a couple of weeks ago. It feels so light and free. I'm already dreaming about how short I'll go next time it needs a trim.

2. You cannot grow summery vegetables with little sun.

Our garden is a sorry sight these days. Our brussels sprouts and artichokes completely failed. Our squash and tomatoes are only barely producing. I sometimes catch myself dreaming of what I could produce if I had the requisite 6+ hours of sunlight. I'm looking forward to being successful again when winter rolls around and we grow veggies for the leaves not the fruit.

3. How to make homemade Greek yogurt in a crock pot.

It's so easy, I've made batch after batch. My go to breakfast these days is yogurt drizzled with honey with a handful of granola mixed in and a cup of tea alongside. I found a recipe for how to make homemade ricotta cheese from the yogurt whey. I hope to try it soon.

4. My husband listens to eclectic music.

I suppose I've always known this, but I learned it at a deeper level. This summer, while doing reading for a seminary course, he listened to chip tunes, movie soundtracks, instrumental bluegrass, and bluegrass/Classical fusion. Ever seen a world class mandolin player play Bach? It's pretty incredible. Watch it.

5. Ten hours of work without childcare is the right balance for me! (For now.)

Women (and men more and more these days) all have different ideas of what is the "right" balance between work and home time. I started working again about a month ago. In the past few weeks, I've discovered that about ten hours of work is totally doable with a six month old. It's refreshing, mind stimulating, and fun. More on what my work is to come...

6. My daughter looks like my husband.

7. Nose piercing doesn't hurt much.

That's right. I got my nostril pierced. I've wanted a little stud for years. A year and a half ago, I was going to get it done with my sister, but had a fainting spell and lost the courage. A year ago, I went again to get it with my sister, but they refused to pierce me because I was pregnant. A month ago, I went again with my friend, but they again refused, this time because I was breastfeeding. I called my doctor, got the green light, went in a few days later, and finally got it done. I love it!

Mini Michael?

For the first few weeks of life, Grace had brown skin and dark brown hair. Everyone said she looked like Michael. Then, her coloring lightened up and now people either say she looks like both of us or like neither of us.

Then, I spent some time at my in-laws home, took a look at Michael's baby pictures in the hallway, and was shocked by how much she looks like Michael.

But, I want to know what you think. Is Grace a mini Michael? (Michael is on the left, Grace on the right).

Or does she look like me?